the gateless gate - 2012 - 2015 (compilation)

the gateless gate is the recording name of a canadian artist i recently connected with on twitter over a shared love of non-traditional music blogging (he ran a site called 'make your own taste'...as soon as i saw that, i knew we ought to connect, as i often harp on the fact that MFOA is 'not a tastemaker') and the book that is his namesake, 'the gateless gate'...a classic collection of zen buddhist koans. his music is inspired by his interest in zen, the wonders of nature, and the influence of krautrock, drone and psychedelic/experimental folk music.

i figured i'd share the newest thing on his bandcamp page, which is a compilation of highlights from his last three years of recording. it's reflective, meditative music, as you might expect. many of the compositions are long form and reference the slow and inevitable rhythms of the nature. i always love instrumental/experimental music that reflects the 'natural world'...music is all around us if we can make ourselves open to receive it. what you might learn from the study of the book 'the gateless gate' is that there is no 'nature', in the sense of that word as an opposite or other to us as humans, because everything is the same thing, and in that way there is no us either, except in the way in which we exist as part of the one thing. and i think that might be the place this music comes from. or at least that's my humble butchery of one of the simple, stately concepts of zen. of course, you also learn that by trying to philosophize it, you have gotten it wrong. which is why music is so perfect?